


Hotelier

by propaganda



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Hotel, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, Romance, Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:25:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8329564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/propaganda/pseuds/propaganda
Summary: The hospitality industry has always been a stressful career to pursue, but Eren is perfectly content with his job as the front desk manager of a luxury hotel. That is until his somewhat steady lifestyle is completely disrupted by an affluent businessman named Levi who has taken a keen interest in him. Will Eren be able to keep up his professionalism despite being heavily pursued by this mysterious guest?





	1. Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is inspired by one of my favorite dramas of all time, hence the title. As always, I own nothing in this story besides the order of the words I put together to tell it. I might bump the rating up to explicit depending on the direction the story goes.

Working at the Lake Maria Hotel as a front desk supervisor was stressful enough during the wedding season, but today was particularly harrowing for Eren.

It was a cool fall morning and Eren had stopped by a local doughnut shop to buy a coffee on his way to work. But not even the caffeine in his bitter drink could have prepared him for the day ahead. Eren knew exactly how his morning was going to go the moment he stepped through the automatic sliding doors. One glance at the faces of the front desk staff told him everything he needed to know.

"Oh thank god you're here." Sasha's tired expression brightened as he approached the desk. The large lobby was fairly empty but come check-out time he knew they would get swamped, considering it was sold out last night.

"Dare I ask?" Eren set down his styrofoam cup on the desk and then began to log into the hotel database on the computer.

"No one told you?" Sasha paused, nervously licking her lips, "The entire hotel doesn't have hot water. We've been getting calls all morning from guests trying to take a shower."

 _'Great.'_ Eren thought. Hopefully they would be able to get the issue resolved before guests began to check in. Wedding guests usually took a shower before getting ready to take shuttles from the hotel to the reception, and if they had no hot water the staff would be in for a long day of unforgiving complaints.

"What'd you tell them?"

"We just apologized for the inconvenience and that our maintenance department is looking into the matter."

"Good." Eren passed a hand through his hair. "Well there's nothing much we can do about it but--Sasha?"

Eren glanced towards the girl in question, who was sneaking away slowly from behind the desk. Upon being caught, a guilty look washed over her.

"Look, I'm sorry boss. My shift is up and I really need to get going. I can't stay any longer."

Annoyed but not unsympathetic, Eren waved his hand in dismissal, letting the girl go home. Armin was supposed to be coming in soon anyway, and he would be far much more helpful than Sasha was. Sasha was a hard worker and she did a good job at Lake Maria, but guests would often complain about how scatterbrained she could be at times.

"Eren!" came a voice across the lobby moments later, startling Eren. As he looked up to find the source, he realized it was Dot Pixis, the general manager, walking toward him.

"Jesus, sir. You scared me."

"Sorry, Eren. Didn't mean to frighten you." Pixis apologized, handing over a piece of paper across the desk. Eren took it and observed the paper, which seemed to be a printout of a guest's reservation.

"We have two VIPs checking in later this evening. They are representatives of the Sina hotel chain and they are interested in buying the Lake Maria."

The hotel had gone up for sale in the beginning of the summer. Since then there had been nervous whispers going around that the new owners would lay off the current employees of the hotel and replace them with their own staff. Many agents from various banks and hotel chains had booked reservation in anticipation of buying it. Eren was frankly getting agitated with all these representatives, as they tended to prod around and ask him countless questions about the hotel.

"They'll be staying in one of the luxury suites." Pixis added, albeit a bit unnecessarily.

Eren nodded in response, "Sir, did you hear about the hot water situation?"

"Oh that?" Pixis chuckled before turning on his heel to head back to his office, "Don't worry. It should be fixed within the hour."

Five hours later the hot water issue had been resolved, much to the relief of the staff. Fortunately it had been fixed before check-in time, but the guests who had checked out earlier had a few choice words to say to the front desk. Despite the snafu, Eren and Armin handled it with practiced ease, apologizing profusely and offering free breakfast.

"Phew!" Armin said. "I can't believe we got through that."

"Me neither," Eren agreed.

Guests were filtering in here and there to check in, but it was not nearly as bad as the morning had been. It was a Sunday and there were barely any people staying that evening, as Sundays were notoriously slow.

"So I saw your Snapchats before coming into work. How was yesterday night?" Eren asked, amused when Armin's face lit up bright red. Despite Eren being his superior, they were extremely close. Eren was the one who got him the job in the first place when Armin asked him if he was hiring. It had been difficult for Armin to get a job during grad school and he needed something part-time to support himself. Eren had been happy to oblige.

"I-it was okay."

"Just okay?" Eren smacked his shoulder playfully. "You looked absolutely hammered in those videos."

"Alright, alright," Armin's embarrassed expression cracked into a more cheerful one. "It was more than okay. I'm so glad I went, I really let loose for once in my life."

"Good for you!" It was not often that Armin really enjoyed himself. He often isolated himself in his apartment, observing long and tedious study hours. Eren barely saw him outside of work. "Did you meet anyone?"

Armin bit his lip, debating on whether or not he should spare Eren the details of his late night escapade, "Well..."

"No way." Eren grinned, leaning in.

"I didn't exactly meet anyone new, but there was this one--" Armin abruptly stopped mid-sentence, the smile evaporating from his lips. Eren paused, his automatic response was to snap his attention away from Armin and towards the other side of the desk. Suddenly he was face-to-face with a strikingly handsome, yet irritable looking man. To the left of him was a taller blond, who appeared to be equally as well-dressed and equally as stiff. Eren put two-and-two together, reasoning that the pair were the VIPs that Pixis had mentioned earlier.

"Welcome to the Lake Maria Hotel, how may I assist you today?" Eren choked out, trying his best to steady himself after being taken off guard.

"Checking in," the man replied briskly.

"Of course. What is your last name, sir?"

"Ackerman."

Eren was taken aback at how rude the guest was being. Normally he enjoyed interacting with people who were checking-in, but at this moment he felt like nothing more than an annoyance to this man.

"Thank you. I already have your keys prepared for you. Your room number is on the key packet."

Those dark eyes regarded Eren with a cool distance before casting back downward towards the key packet. Surprisingly, Eren felt uncomfortable and graceless as he fumbled the keys into the man's outstretched hand.

"Enjoy your stay. Should either of you need anything, please do not hesitate to call and ask for Eren," he tapped his name tag on the upper-left side of his blazer.

Without another word, Mr. Ackerman began to head towards the elevators. His business partner, the taller blond, smiled easily at Eren.

"Thank you," he said, and then followed his coworker.

Eren watched as the two walked across the marble floor, listening to the sharp _click-clack click-clack_ of their polished dress shoes echo down the lobby. As they disappeared behind the elevator doors, he could not help but to wonder what it would be like to be that rich and influential. He could hardly imagine himself gallivanting from luxury hotel to luxury hotel and calling it work. No. That world was reserved for a lucky few, but there was no harm in the diligent work Eren put in the Lake Maria. He had already accomplished becoming the front desk manager. Perhaps one day he could make it even further.

His reverie was cut short by a particularly angry middle-aged guest stomping their way to his desk. Suddenly Eren felt the shining pride for his career in hospitality drain away into a bitter exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

Monday was a fairly busy day for the Lake Maria, but the front desk did not experience too much traffic. They had numerous guests on business checking in here and there, but the morning went off without so much as an utter of a complaint. People were far too busy to find anything wrong with their room. Mostly all these guests wanted was internet access, and maybe a drink or two before bed.

Eren’s shift was over in two hours and he found himself drumming his fingers on the desk out of boredom. Perhaps he would leave early. Out of the corner of his eye Eren spotted Krista the bellhop, who looked like she was carrying a plant half of her size.

“Krista, what are you still doing here?” Eren asked. “I thought your shift ended a half hour ago.”

Krista turned towards Eren, the plant swaying dangerously in her arms.

“I was just about to leave but then I got one last call and, well, backup isn’t here yet.” Krista said, only her eyes were visible above the plant. 

“Go on ahead and clock out. I’ll handle this for you.”

“Are you sure?”

Eren smiled and nodded, lifting the potted plant easily out of Krista’s hands.

“Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it.” he said, turning towards the elevators. However, before he could reach them, he remembered something and quickly turned around.

“Krista?” he called out to her retreating figure. 

The small blond stopped and looked back at him quizzically, “Yes?”

“Forgot to ask. Where is this going to?”

“Oh!” she smacked herself on the forehead with the heel of her palm “It’s going to uh--I misplaced the room number, but I know it’s going to those two VIPs staying in one of the suites.”

A sudden chill swept through Eren’s body. 

“Uh-huh,” Eren said, mechanically. “Thanks Krista. See you tomorrow.”

“See you!” she responded happily, completely unaware in the sudden change in Eren’s aura.

The elevator ride up to the 20th and last floor was an anxious one. Suddenly Eren forgot all of his years of experience working at the front desk. What would he say if he had to talk to Mr. Ackerman? What if Krista made a mistake and Eren was bringing this plant up to the wrong room? What a humiliating sight that would be.

_‘Stop it.’_ Eren reassured himself. _‘You’re only 23 and you’re the front desk manager. You got this job for a reason. Now go in there and treat him like you would any other guest.’_

As the elevator doors opened, Eren felt confident. He was working himself up over nothing.

“Front desk.” Eren called out once he reached the correct room, knocking on the smooth wooden door with his free hand. 

If he was being completely honest with himself, he really did not want to be doing this. His initial encounter with Levi Ackerman left a bad impression on him, and he had not been looking forward to seeing him around in the coming month. Especially if he was going to be one of those tiresome guests who were never satisfied with anything. But Eren did love his job despite his constant inner gripes about it. He loved to help people and he enjoyed proving to himself over and over again that he was strong enough to handle this job.

The door opened and in that moment Eren hoped he would be greeted with Mr. Ackerman’s taller business partner, since they were both sharing the suite. But that was not the case. It was Levi who opened the door, dressed impeccably in a white dress shirt and black slacks even in the comfort of his hotel room.

“Good evening,” he said plainly.

“Evening, sir. Where would you like me to put this plant?”

“On the glass table, near the newspaper is fine. Thank you.”

Levi stepped back, allowing Eren enough room to enter the suite. As he passed by, he accidentally brushed against the man, sending another chill up his spine. In that moment all he could think of was to set the damned plant down and get out of there as quickly as he could manage. And he would have done exactly that, had Levi not stepped in front of him in the process of him leaving, effectively blocking off his escape route.

“Eren, was it?” Levi began, taking a half step closer. Eren resisted the urge to jerk away from the advancement until Levi stuck out his hand. 

“Correct, sir.” Eren said, leaning slightly forward and gripping Levi’s hand into a firm handshake. 

“Levi.” came the man’s reply. As they parted, Eren caught the scent of a crisp, clean cologne. Or perhaps it was the detergent the man used to wash his clothes. Did he even wash his own clothes, or did he send them out to be laundered? Whatever the scent was, it smelled expensive.

Eren cleared his throat, “I hope you are finding the room okay.”

“I’ve only just settled in.” Levi’s tone was measured and even. “But I have noticed a few things here and there.”

“Oh?” Eren offered.

“For one, the curtains could use a bit of updating, but I suppose that’s not too important.” 

Eren looked at the drapery in question. It looked completely fine to him, but then again Eren did not have an eye for these sorts of things. The curtains he had in his own apartment were those cheap plastic shades one pulled down to cover the window and then had to struggle with to snap it back up.

“If I remember correctly, It’s been some years since we replaced the curtains.”

“Is that so? How long has it been?”

Eren mentally tallied up the time. “I’d say about seven years now.”

“Hm.” Levi hummed, taking another look at the curtains.

“Is there anything else I could assist you with today?” Eren said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

“No. The plant is all I needed.” Levi stepped out of Eren’s path to the door, walking past the younger man. He picked up the newspaper from the glass table and sat down in one of the leather dining chairs. 

Eren took this as his cue to leave.

“Have a good day, sir.” he said before opening the door and closing it behind him. He idled in the hallway outside the suite, collecting his thoughts before going back to work.

* * *

It was the end of his shift and Eren figured that he would stop by the bar on his way out. He knew Jean and Ymir were working that evening and over the past year they had all become good friends, despite the antagonistic energy between Jean and Eren. Jean always poked fun at Eren, but it was mostly in good humor. The two would fight a lot but in the end, they would act like nothing happened the next day.

“Eren, who’s the blond bellhop I saw you speaking with earlier?” Ymir spoke as soon as Eren approached.

“The new one?” He asked, leaning against the bar. “That’s Krista. Why?”

“Krista,” Ymir repeated. “No reason.”

Ymir turned her head in time to catch Jean’s knowing look, “Oh shut the fuck up Jean!”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“You didn’t have to! I know what the hell you’re thinking.”

“Guys!” Eren said, and then in a lower voice, “Keep it down. Not in front of the guests.”

Ymir scoffed before picking up some empty glasses and bringing them back into the kitchen to be washed.

“Someone asked about you yesterday night.” Jean said suddenly.

“What?” Eren asked, “Who was it?”

“A guest. A man, dark hair. I’d say about four or five inches shorter than me.” he gestured the approximate height with his hands. “Pretty good looking--”

Eren held out his hand, “Stop. I know exactly who you’re talking about.”

“Caught your attention, did he?” Jean raised his eyebrows.

“No, no. He’s one of the VIPs, he’s looking into buying Lake Maria.”

“Shit. Had I known that I would have paid more attention to him.”

“What’d he ask about me?”

“Nothing much. He just asked if you were the one who managed the front desk.”

A man at the other end of the bar waved down Jean, trying to catch his attention. Jean nodded at the man before turning back to Eren.

“Gotta go.” Jean said. Eren shrugged in response.

“I have to get going myself. See you later horseface.”

“Whatever asshole.” 

As Eren sat in his car in the parking lot, he put his head into his hands and breathed in slowly.

_‘This is going to be a long week.’_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments! They make me happy to read.

The odd hours Eren maintained at work had effectively screwed up his sleep schedule. It was 10pm when he had got into bed, fully intending to fall asleep quickly. It wasn’t until 1am that the pit-pattering of rain lulled him into an uncomfortable rest.

That is, until Eren received a text, causing his eyes to snap back open. He slammed his hand over his phone on the nightstand and jerked it towards his face. Who the hell was texting him at this hour? Eren rubbed his bleary eyes with his left hand and squinted at the bright screen.

 **Jean [1:20 am]:**  
the bar is crazy tonight, wedding party completely wasted

 **Jean [1:23am]:**  
dude these drunk bastards are dropping glasses  & bottles everywhere, shards all over the place.

 **Eren [1:25am]:**  
really? was this so important that you had to wake me up for it?

 **Jean [1:27am]:**  
chill out lol I didn’t mean to wake you up

 **Eren [1:28am]:**  
well you did 

With a long drawn out sigh, Eren tossed his phone back onto the night stand and smothered his face into his pillow. If he was lucky, he would still be tired enough be able to get back to sleep in thirty minutes or less.

* * *

As soon as Eren made an appearance at the desk, he was greeted by a small line of people, waiting to complain to the front desk manager. From what he was told by the night shift, the drunk wedding guests had brought the party back to their rooms last night. He was also told that hotel security had tried to quiet the rowdy guests three times before eventually calling the police to control the noise level.

“What kind of place are you running here?! A zoo?” The man slammed his fist on the desk. “This is completely unacceptable! My wife and kids didn’t get to sleep until almost 3 am last night.”

 _‘Well neither did I and you don’t see me causing a scene about it.’_ Eren thought wearily.

“I apologize sir, I understand how frustrating that is for you. You came to this hotel to rest and relax, and you were not able to do that due to an oversight on our part. For the inconvenience I’m going to comp your room for last night.” he did feel bad. The childrens’ little faces looked tired clutching their luggage in their small hands. They also looked quite embarrassed at their father’s elevated tone and frantic hand gestures.

“Just for last night? The whole stay better be free or I’m going to post on every review site how horrible this place is and how unhelpful you are!” the guest squinted at Eren’s name tag.

Whatever sympathy Eren had for the guest dissipated entirely. Did he really think Eren would comp his entire week stay for one sleepless night? He remembered this guest too. He had been calling down and complaining about every little thing in the room since he checked in. He even called down about finding a small crushed goldfish cracker underneath the sofa cushions. This pretty much clued Eren into the fact that the guest was probably just trying to get a free stay.

“Once again, I apologize. For a further discount, I would have to ask you to call tomorrow in order to speak to my general manager.”

“Tomorrow? I want to talk to them now!”

“Unfortunately he is not in today, but I could certainly give you his e-mail if you’d like to speak with him directly.”

Seeing that he was going to get nothing further from Eren, the irate guest threw his hands up in the air and stormed away from the desk, family in tow. Eren closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose hard, trying to quell the dull pain of an incoming headache.

“Rough morning already?” came a deep voice.

“Ah--” Eren glanced up only to be eye-to-eye with the imposing blond guest he had met two days prior, the one who had checked in with Levi Ackerman. “May I help you, sir?”

“Erwin is just fine.” he corrected. Erwin was used to titles of respect but since he and Levi had planned to stay at this hotel for at least a month, he figured it would be better to become more familiar with the management. “Do you have a list of restaurants in the area? My colleague is taking a few clients for lunch this afternoon and I thought it would make his life easier if I just asked the front desk.”

“Of course.” Eren opened one of the drawers, shuffling papers around until he found the list of restaurants they kept up front. He pulled it out, and circled a few restaurants before handing it to Erwin.

“I circled some of the highly recommended ones, but all the restaurants are well rated.” he leaned over, tapping the paper where the first circled restaurant was listed. “I personally think this one would be a good for a meeting with clients. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s spacious and clean with a lot of natural lighting and a great view. Not to mention the food is amazing.”

“Huh.” Erwin said. “Thank you, Eren. You’ve been very helpful. Mind if I keep this?”

“By all means! And definitely let me know which one you ended up choosing” Eren smiled. He quite liked Erwin, now that he got the chance to speak to him. There was a vast contrast between Erwin and his associate Levi. Eren felt at ease with the man standing in front of him, as he did with most guests. He couldn’t say the same for Levi Ackerman.

“Will do.” Erwin said. He tucked the list under his arm and fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket. “Well, I’d better be off.”

“Have a good day.”

After the morning rush, things had calmed down immensely. Eren was not looking forward to telling the general manager that he had to comp five rooms for last night’s debacle, but he was sure Pixis would understand. It was better to comp a one night stay now than lose the guest’s business completely. It was not easy making the decisions Eren made, and sometimes he made the wrong call, but it was his job.

He was waiting for Connie and Armin to come into work before he clocked out for the day. The traffic at the desk was slow and he was sure the pair could manage on their own. Besides, he was exhausted and he needed to take a nap thanks to a certain someone.

 _‘Speak of the devil and he shall appear’_ Eren thought, catching sight of Jean walking across the lobby, probably to do a liquor inventory.

“Damn you look _terrible_.” Jean said, smirking as he was passing by. “You look like you didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Yeah?” Eren replied hotly. He crumpled up one of the papers laying nearby and, winding up his arm, tossed it full force at Jean.

Once the paper ball left his hand, things began to move in slow motion. Jean was laughing as he walked by, knowing that the ball was not going to hit him. As he looked behind him to see where it landed, he stopped laughing entirely. Eren watched the paper ball whiz through the air, missing its intended target. He clasped one hand to his mouth in horror as it hit Levi Ackerman in the neck. 

Eren did not even know where to begin in apologizing. He ran out from behind the desk and upon reaching the man, choked out, “I am-- _so_ sorry sir. That was--I--”

Without a word, Levi bent at the knees and picked the paper ball off the ground. 

“I believe this belongs to you.” he said. 

“T-thanks.” Eren reluctantly took the crumpled paper from his hand, eyes searching back and forth across Levi’s face for any sign of anger. He found only mild irritation.

After a few agonizing seconds of silence, Levi cleared his throat.

“Are you two good friends?” 

“Huh?” Eren asked, despite clearly hearing the question. He hoped Levi would drop the subject. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

Levi remained undeterred.

“I asked if you and that man were good friends.” 

“Jean?" he raised his eyebrows. "I like him well enough, but it really depends on the day.” 

Eren instantly regretting answering so honestly. But there was something in the way Levi looked at him that was unnerving. Eren felt that if he so much as thought of lying, Levi would know instantly.

“He does a great job managing the bar,” he added.

Levi looked as if he were going to say something further on the subject, but bit his lip because at that moment, Connie and Armin appeared from down the hall to show up for their shift. It was not uncommon for them to walk in at the same time as they often carpooled together. The pair side-eyed the conversation between Eren and Levi, probably straining to hear what was being said.

“I see,” Levi replied. “Could you call me a cab? I don’t want to take my chances with parking in this city.”

“For what time?”

Levi’s cool gaze looked Eren up and down, sizing him up. It was a quick motion, but Eren caught it all the same. His face began to feel heated.

“Now, if possible,” he said.

“I’ll call right away.” Eren picked up the phone.

“Let them know I’ll be waiting outside. It is a nice day after all. And Eren?”

Eren paused, finger hovering over the numbers. “Yes?”

“I’ll see you around,” he said. Eren could have sworn he had smiled as he said it, but he wasn’t sure because Levi had promptly turned and walked away.

After Levi had cleared the hotel's front doors, Connie suddenly burst out into laughing. Eren bristled, assuming that he was laughing at the unpleasant interaction that just occurred, but upon further inspection, Connie was clearly laughing at something on the computer. Armin, who appeared to be looking over Connie’s shoulder, grimaced.

“What are you laughing at?” Eren said. As he moved towards the computer Connie stepped aside, still laughing, to let him look. "Is that a review of the hotel?"

Armin nodded, sending Connie into another fit of laughter. Eren narrowed his eyes at the screen and read.

> **POSTED BY: anonymous**
> 
> EREN at the front desk should be FIRED! When I politely told him that my family didn’t sleep at all because of loud noises from the floor above, he rolled his eyes and said “What do you want me to do about it?” Ridiculous. I’ve NEVER been so disrespected in my life. My advice to those thinking of staying at the Lake Maria Hotel: don’t do it. And if you have a genuine complaint about the hotel and you bring it to Eren, you’re better off shoving it up your ass because he’s not going to do anything about it. Never again.

Armin patted Eren on the shoulder sympathetically. 

“Alright,” Eren, unaware of how hard he was gritting his teeth, began loosening his tie. “I’ve had enough for today. I’m going home.”


End file.
